Korcheck set to join the Cats

Months after the four previous members of the 2012 recruiting class signed and Arizona head coach Sean Miller said that the program would keep its options open in the spring, the Wildcats have added yet another piece to their top-ranked class Monday.

The 6-foot-9 recruit, who averaged 14.7 points per game and 6.5 rebounds for the Apaches last season, is planning to sign with the 'Cats Wednesday - the start of the spring signing period.

"We called coach Miller this morning and Matt has made his verbal commitment and he will sign a letter of intent during the spring signing period with the University of Arizona," Cochise head coach Jerry Carrillo said.

The forward will redshirt for the upcoming season, and then be eligible to play in the 2013-14 season with the Wildcats.

"Matt's 6-9 and about 218, he's physically gifted for a guy that's 6-9 in a sense that he can run the floor from rim to rim very well," Carrillo said. "Matt can defend the post and defend the perimeter. And in coach Miller's defensive schemes, I think can be very good.

He can defend ball screens, which you see a lot of now, and he can fit into coach Miller's man-to-man defensive philosophy. ... He's always kind of been a potential player but this season he put up some good numbers."

Korcheck signed with UTEP out of high school, but he never played for the Miners before making his way to Cochise College.

Finding a program that would let him redshirt for the upcoming season was a big part of Korcheck's decision and he found that fit with the Wildcats.

"That's how we approached it from his recruitment," Carrillo said. "He attended Jerry Mullen's JUCO Top 100 last July, and so he got a lot of interest from that. So he did not want to entertain BCS schools that had the interest of making him a five-year guy. He wanted to redshirt and be a three-year guy wherever he went, so I think coach Miller does an excellent job with skill development and Matt needs that.

"So hopefully he can play to his highest potential."

Korcheck played his high school basketball in Tucson at Sabino High School, which is minutes away from the UA campus, and Carrillo said that staying close to home was one factor in his decision.

"Matt had kind moved around from city to city as a kid and his last stop was Tucson as a seventh grader," Carrillo said. "For someone who went to school from seventh through 12th grade in Tucson, the reality of coach Miller offering him a scholarship and going down to McKale Center and visiting last week that reality of being the 'hometown boy' set in.

"He really enjoyed his visit to the University of Oklahoma, but with that said he when coach Miller offered he turned down a visit to Pitt, he turned down a visit to Auburn, he turned down a visit to Washington. So he kind of shut all those other doors and was going to decide between Oklahoma and Arizona.

"Once he went on campus and met coach Miller it was pretty much he wanted to be a Wildcat."

With Korcheck's commitment the 'Cats are out of available scholarships for the 2012-13 season.